


Welcome Home

by snovyda



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Post-Fallout, a bit of domesticity i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 00:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16651021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snovyda/pseuds/snovyda
Summary: After the events of Fallout, Benji is the first one to be cleared for field work, meaning Ethan has to stay at home, waiting for him to come back.





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kerry_0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerry_0506/gifts).



> Initially written on Tumblr for the prompt “Who the hell did this to you?”

It was taking Ethan a bit longer than before to get into the usual swing of things after Kashmir. His injuries healed faster than they would on most people, that was pretty much the norm for him, but he still felt it wasn’t fast enough. Still, he didn’t think it was too bad, because that meant he got to have what was basically an extended vacation, and spend it all with Benji. It felt so normal, so casual. Walks in a park. Watching movies together. Playing video games and listening to Benji’s light gloating at the discovery that there finally was something he could beat Ethan at. Holding each other through the nightmares. Aside from the last one, it was a glimpse into what normal life would be, just like years ago, with Julia. They both knew it wouldn’t last though, and didn’t really want it to last too long, knowing all too well that they weren’t normal anymore, and they simply wouldn’t stand their lives being so normal for a long time.

And indeed, it didn’t. Benji was the first one of them to be cleared for field work again, and soon enough received a call for a mission, something relatively easy, to get back in track after the pure hell of dealing with Lane again.

Saying goodbye was a new and strangely awkward thing for both of them. Obviously, they had been sent on separate missions before, but not since they had gotten together. And it had never been just one of them going off while the other stayed behind, waiting for him to come back. Ethan didn’t want to show how nervous he was, but Benji knew him well enough to see that.

“I’ll call you as soon as I can,” Benji whispered into the crook of Ethan’s neck when they hugged for the one last time before he walked out and shut the door behind him. Ethan felt strangely empty standing in the middle of the apartment they shared, alienated by the walls that he could not quite call a home now for some reason.

The following days were filled to the brim with anxiety. Ethan kept checking his phone every few hours. The nights got somehow longer and more suffocating. No-one would be there when he woke up from another nightmare. He knew it was silly, he was used to this, but the growing sense of unease was getting the best of him. He hated having to just passively wait, being unable to do anything to protect Benji, to make sure he was going to make it out just fine, anything but wait and hope.

Days turned into weeks, and Ethan kept telling himself that no bad news is already good news. He kept checking in with Brandt and part of him wondered at what point the other man’s patience would finally run out. Brandt wasn’t known as a man of great patience after all, and yet every time he would only tell him that everything was under control, that everything was going well, according to plan. He just needed to wait a bit longer, and Benji would be back home in no time.

The call came in the middle of one of Ethan’s more restless nights. He immediately jumped and grabbed his phone. It took him a bit longer to actually answer it though when he saw that the caller’s number was not Benji’s but Brandt’s.

Ethan was pretty certain he broke his own speed records while driving to the IMF’s headquarters. There was no force on earth that could stop him, he needed to get there, he needed to see _him_. The walk through the building took him seemingly almost as long as the drive, and he was only vaguely aware of Brandt having accompanied him at the main entrance, even though he was guiding him in the needed direction through the labyrinth of corridors and to the medical wing. He was pretty sure that Brandt was saying something to him, some cautious warnings about what he was about to see, and he did hear all of them, but they simply went to the back of his head to be processed sometime later.

Ethan burst through the door and stopped where he stood. Benji was half-lying and half-sitting on the cot, and a doctor was busy cleaning up the cut splitting his eyebrow. Ethan couldn’t see a single uninjured spot on his body. Benji’s nose looked broken, his lip was busted. Ethan didn’t even need to make an effort of peering over to the bin next to the cot to see that it was filled with bloodied bandages that had probably been hastily applied right after whatever that had caused those injuries. Benji’s eyes were swollen partly shut and from what little of them Ethan could see, slightly clouded, no doubt due to a head injury of some sort, and yet he was still conscious enough to breathe out a “hey” once he recognised Ethan’s form at the doorframe.

“Benji,” a freezing cold shiver ran through Ethan’s whole being. “Who the hell did this to you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Brandt’s tone was dark and steely. “They’re all dead now”.

Ethan stumbled closer and gently took Benji’s hand in his own, watching Benji’s face for any indication of pain or discomfort it might be causing him. He tried to stomp on the fury threatening to turn him into something he didn’t want Benji to witness right now. Instead, he gently pressed Benji’s palm to his lips.

“Welcome home, Benji” he whispered, ignoring the shakiness in his breath. He stayed up even when Benji all but passed out shortly afterwards, holding his hand and guarding his sleep.


End file.
